A first of its kind CD featuring the 19th compositions of Muthusvami Dikshitar (1775-1835) in the genre of nottusvara sahityas recorded with Indian voices and Celtic orchestration has been released.

The nottusvara sahityas are a creation of the genius of Muthusvami Dikshitar, one of India's foremost composers, in whose hands European (primarily) Celtic tunes that came to India with the British East India company, transformed into simple but elegant songs in sanskrit, easily accessible to children, especially those of the Indian diaspora. The beauty of this genre of music is that it is neither Indian nor western and at the same time it is both uniquely Indian and western!



The CD titled 'Vismaya - An Indo Celtic Musical Journey' has been recorded in Cincinnati, OH and is accompanied by a 20 page booklet presenting the background and lyrics of the nottusvara sahityas. A range of ethnic instruments such as a penny whistle, an Irish flute, a Celtic harp, a fiddle, a hammered dulcimer, the Irish bodhran have accompanied the rendition of these compositions. Compositions such as 'jagadisa' render the original tunes (Lord McDonald's reel) exactly as they are rendered in the Celtic idiom.

This CD has been conceived, orchestrated and produced by Kanniks Kannikeswaran, a musician/composer based in the United States. Kannikeswaran presented a lecture/demonstration on this topic at the 81st annual conference of the Music Academy in December 2007 that won the Suryakanthamma memorial award for the best paper/lec-dem.

The album represents a slice of history that has remained largely unknown. The very fact that one of India's foremost composers created a fairly significant body of compositions based on Celtic tunes, is something that attracts the attention of the global community. In addition, set of composition also serves as a tool to introduce very young children (of Indian origin) to the world of Dikshitar and Indian classicism.

Dr. Catherine Roma, Professor of Music at Wilmington college hailed the shared Indo-Celtic heritage that is highlighted in the album and lauded the effort as "an opening and opportunity for cross cultural connections in elementary and secondary schools'. Dr. Alok Baveja, Professor at Rutger's University described this as a great contribution to the children of the Indian diaspora.

Listen to Vismaya